The data center has become a fixture of Information Technology (IT) environments. As the size and densities of modern data centers has increased, the power and cooling demands of the computer systems running or installed in the data centers has also increased dramatically. In addition, the design, construction, and deployment of a new data center typically requires a tremendous amount of time and cost.
In a typical data center, the computers are stacked in racks and arranged in repeating rows or cells. A standard rack that is widely used measures roughly 19 inches wide, 30 inches deep, and 74 inches high. These racks may be arranged in rows of, for example, roughly 10-30 units, with access doors on each side of the racks. Access aisles are provided on both sides of the rows so that an operator may approach the access doors on each side. Many of the racks are filled with cumbersome computers mounted on sliders and attached to the racks through mounting holes provided in the front and back of the rack.
In conventional rack-based computer systems, a plurality of computers are supported in a single stack in a rack. The rack may include a rack assembly having a front door and a back door. Each of the computers typically includes a computer chassis having a motherboard and other components, such as one or more power supplies, hard drives, processors, expansion cards, contained within the chassis. The front door of the rack assembly provides access to the front sides of the computers and the back door provides access to the back sides, where the I/O ports for the computers are typically provided. Each computer may also include one or more fans that draw ambient air into vents provided on one side of the computer, through the computer chassis, and out of vents provided on the opposite side of the computer. The ambient air passing through the computers is used to cool the various components contained within the computer chassis.
Due to the cost and complexity of deploying new data centers or expanding existing data centers, it would be desirable to be able to deploy new computers in a more effective fashion.